Page 146 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Cooperation Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 146
Planning: is related to gathering information and, based on that,
to developing a strategy to accomplish the task.
d) Structuring: includes the development and maintenance of
norms, roles and interaction patterns.
These processes take place either in early stages of team development
(forming) or between two performance episodes or cycles (transition).
In the forming phase of an ESL team, it is important that trust is built
among team members – on one hand, that they believe that as a team they
are up to the task (e.g. to agree on adequate support for a particular ESL stu-
dent and to provide it) and, on the other hand, that they feel safe as individ-
uals in the team (e.g. feel free in expressing a new or different idea about a
certain ELSer’s situation and appropriate strategies, are not afraid of being
judged, belittled because of it). In this phase, it is important that relevant
information is gathered (e.g. what kind of student’s behaviour was detect-
ed, what are other contextual factors – recent events in the school or family,
what are the student’s and parents’ expectations regarding education etc.)
and prepare a strategy for tackling the situation (e.g. plan to meet with the
student, plan to outsource the counselling service, plan to work with teach-
ers). In this phase, the team’s norm (i.e. fairly rigid rules about acceptable
behaviour) and interaction patterns also develop; because in cross-secto-
rial ESL teams the norms are likely to vary for professionals coming from
different sectors this may lead to dysfunctional conflicts (Hood et al., 1993).
This indicates that special attention to these elements should be given in
the forming phase; perhaps even by inviting an external expert who would
help establish constructive normative, trust and communication patterns.
When this phase denotes a transition from one team cycle to anoth-
er, evaluation (with regard to team processes and to the support provided
for a specific student) is important. Given that the ESL team is engaged in
multiple tasks (e.g. it deals with several students), it may be in a transition
phase while dealing with one student, but in an active phase while dealing
with another student. As already mentioned, previous cycles (phases) serve
as an input for future cycles (e.g. trusting or planning can be changed based
on previous cycles).
(2) Functioning (active) phase processes:
a) Task-work processes: refer to activities leading directly to goal
accomplishment.
146
to developing a strategy to accomplish the task.
d) Structuring: includes the development and maintenance of
norms, roles and interaction patterns.
These processes take place either in early stages of team development
(forming) or between two performance episodes or cycles (transition).
In the forming phase of an ESL team, it is important that trust is built
among team members – on one hand, that they believe that as a team they
are up to the task (e.g. to agree on adequate support for a particular ESL stu-
dent and to provide it) and, on the other hand, that they feel safe as individ-
uals in the team (e.g. feel free in expressing a new or different idea about a
certain ELSer’s situation and appropriate strategies, are not afraid of being
judged, belittled because of it). In this phase, it is important that relevant
information is gathered (e.g. what kind of student’s behaviour was detect-
ed, what are other contextual factors – recent events in the school or family,
what are the student’s and parents’ expectations regarding education etc.)
and prepare a strategy for tackling the situation (e.g. plan to meet with the
student, plan to outsource the counselling service, plan to work with teach-
ers). In this phase, the team’s norm (i.e. fairly rigid rules about acceptable
behaviour) and interaction patterns also develop; because in cross-secto-
rial ESL teams the norms are likely to vary for professionals coming from
different sectors this may lead to dysfunctional conflicts (Hood et al., 1993).
This indicates that special attention to these elements should be given in
the forming phase; perhaps even by inviting an external expert who would
help establish constructive normative, trust and communication patterns.
When this phase denotes a transition from one team cycle to anoth-
er, evaluation (with regard to team processes and to the support provided
for a specific student) is important. Given that the ESL team is engaged in
multiple tasks (e.g. it deals with several students), it may be in a transition
phase while dealing with one student, but in an active phase while dealing
with another student. As already mentioned, previous cycles (phases) serve
as an input for future cycles (e.g. trusting or planning can be changed based
on previous cycles).
(2) Functioning (active) phase processes:
a) Task-work processes: refer to activities leading directly to goal
accomplishment.
146
